1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for generating panorama images and an apparatus and method for tracking an object using the same, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for generating a single image by combining a plurality of image frames and an apparatus and method for detecting an object in a captured image to track the object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as a market for digital cameras is expanding, a variety of applications using digital techniques are more highlighted. For example, there is a technique for forming a panorama image, in which a geometrical relationship between a camera and a background that is photographed by the camera is used to spatially expand an image.
According to a conventional technique, images are aligned by extracting and matching feature points of respective images. In this case, however, errors may be increased because feature points of respective images are overall non-uniform and feature points can be wrongly extracted. To solve these problems, a plurality of block regions are set in an image, and a regional motion vector of each block is estimated by phase-matching in a frequency region. By using an equalization method using the estimated regional motion vector, a frame motion vector indicating a motion amount or direction of a frame is determined. If the regional motion vector is regular and has a predictable pattern, errors do not occur when a frame motion vector is determined and thus, images can be accurately matched. In fact, however, the estimated regional motion vector is not always regular, errors occur when the frame motion vector is determined and images are thus wrongly matched and panorama images have a low quality. In addition, since complex computing, such as transformation of images into a frequency region and Fourier transformation to extract a phase component, is required, a process speed is low.
In addition, as security on public places and personal regions is more concerned, monitoring cameras are commonly installed. Furthermore, techniques for automatizing intelligence functions, such as an object tracking function and an object identification function, are demanded. Specifically, a demand for an all-direction monitoring technique that enables object-tracking with a wide field of view is increasing.
A conventional video object tracking system using a single fixed camera, in most cases, uses a camera having a limited field of view (FOV). Accordingly, when the entire or part of an object that is tracked is outside a corresponding FOV, tracking stops. To solve this problem, wide FOV-based studies are being conducted to monitor a wider region. For example, a system using a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera is suggested.
According to this system, a plurality of images that are obtained in advance are aligned to form a background image and then, an object and a background are separated by using a difference between a captured image and the background image. However, when the PTZ camera is used, the object and the background moves together, and thus, unless the background image is accurately extracted, noises may occurs due to mismatching when the difference of images are computed and, in turn, tracking the object is difficult.